patrick.net

Check out this website:

Foreclosure Cost Calculatorâ„¢
The true cost of a foreclosure home may
give you sticker shock.

http://www.fultonhomes.com/foreclosure-calculator

This website made by a new house builder.
It must be accurate.

This website made by a new house builder.
It must be accurate.

Guess I shouldn't have tried to point to a website that could be of assistance.

As this was only my second post on patrick.net, I'll refrain from sharing possibly helpful links in the future.

Those costs are much lower than I thought they would be -- about $15k on a $250k 500-SF apartment, for example.

I had assumed legal costs to evict squatters and defend yourself from potential lawsuits would be in the tens of thousands.

jasonring says

ow much does it cost to fix a fixer upper

Here is my take on fixer up. First of all any neighbourhood worth it's weight isn't going to have a FIXER UP. I just smell MONEY PIT when I hear fixer up. Fixer up is real estate lingo for dump. All those fucking real estate key words: charming, cozy, fixer, TLC all means to me RUN.

Depends what you find after tearing down drywall and ceilings, and that's not something you can do during an inspection pre-sale. If you get a good enough price on the purchase AND you have the skills to do most of the work yourself, a fixer can be a decent purchase. My husband and I are rebuilding a farmhouse that had much more needful work than appeared at inspection - but we'd still have purchased the place anyhow, if we'd known going in. The price was too good, the location great. Even excellent neighborhoods contain people/families who slack off on structure and interior maintenance; especially homes which have been in the same family for a very long time. I was the first new owner of the farm I bought since 1935, for instance.

Since we are not 'flipping' it, we are taking our time and doing everything the way WE want our house to be, and have no intention of moving for at least 10-15 years. But be forewarned...'fixer' means a lot of time and a lot of money. Less money if you possess all-around construction skills, but still more money than you think you'll need, going in.

I have been a home builder and a remodel contractor all my life. I grew up in the business. I had people spend 80 to 100k with my company. ( Chicago area) The it stopped, like everything else. I retired. I moved to Florida and made a stupid mistake. I purchased a home beacuse it had good property. No HOA and 1/2 acre with nobody looking in my window.

I did much of the work myself even though I am now 65 years old but spent a fortune on material and misc labor. We paid 167k for the house and another 150k fixing it up........the home will probably appraise for maybe 225 if lucky. Too many close foreclosures and short sales.

Of all people I missed that one. I will probably have to live here until I die or the market changes.

If I had one more chance which I don't , I would have bought a new home. You can buy a beautiful home here for 250k and it will appraise for that next year probably as well.

If you want to fix a house you have to estimate costs on what needs to be fixed.

Does it need new roof, electrical, plumbing, is there asbestos, does it need a paint job or a new flooring, what kind? When investors flip they usually do 3 things only... repaint, recarpet, and change or clean up kitchen cabinets. Most of these costs are very low.

Kitchen cabinets - roughly $2,000 for cheap kind that you'll see in every flip. Usually another 1000 to 2000 to install.

Paint job - do it yourself or hire someone. Might run you a couple of grand.

New floors - we put in laminate floors in our town house, it ran us $3500 for entire 1200sq feet.

Electrical work and/or copper plumbing will cost more (roughly 4,000 to 5,000 for a 1200sq.ft house each).

So if you approach it smart you can get it done very inexpensive.